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International News

Still no clarity from UK to assess financial market access, says EU

With less than two months before Britain’s full access to the EU ends under post-Brexit transition arrangements on Dec. 31, London’s giant financial hub faces being largely cut off from its biggest customer.

Britain’s finance minister, Rishi Sunak, said on Monday he would not wait for Brussels to decide on UK access and would instead unilaterally allow EU financial firms to offer selected services to UK customers from January.

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U.S. crosses 10 million COVID-19 cases as third wave of infections surges

More than 237,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the illness caused by the coronavirus first emerged in China late last year.

The daily average of reported new deaths in the United States account for one in every 11 deaths reported worldwide each day, according to a Reuters analysis.

The number of reported deaths nationwide climbed by more than 1,000 for a fifth consecutive day on Saturday, a trend last seen in mid-August, according to a Reuters tally.

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Investors bet vaccine sparks revival in beaten down stocks

As the market hype around the U.S. election ebbs, investors are now preparing for good vaccine news, which they believe is a matter of when, not if.

“It’s going to be absolutely massive,” said Stuart Oakley, head of cash currency trading at Nomura in London. “If we get a vaccine, we’re going to see all that pent up demand coming out.”

Of the roughly 45 vaccines undergoing human trials, those from Pfizer and Moderna are seen as possibly winning regulatory approval this year, with AstraZeneca not far behind.

Investors are looking beyond an expected “excitement rally” and at longer-term beneficiaries and short-selling opportunities.

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Pfizer’s Covid vaccine prevents 90% of infections in large study

“Today is a great day for science and humanity,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chairman and chief executive, said.

“We are reaching this critical milestone in our vaccine development program at a time when the world needs it most with infection rates setting new records, hospitals nearing over-capacity and economies struggling to reopen,”he said.

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Cinven and Singapore’s GIC to acquire specialist insurance broker Miller

Headquartered in London, it places  £2 billion worth of premiums annually.

Founded in 1902, Miller is a leading specialist insurance and (re)insurance broker operating in the UK, Lloyd’s and internationally. It employs more than 640 people through its offices in London, Ipswich, Brussels, Paris, Singapore and Geneva, covering the world’s major insurance hubs.

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Top $5 trillion investor group pushes firms to cut out thermal coal

In a report seen by Reuters ahead of its release on Monday, the alliance said all companies owned by the group needed to develop their own plans to transition away from thermal coal.

“If no long-term carbon footprint reduction can be produced the members will need to escalate and ultimately divest,” Günther Thallinger, Member of the Board of Management, Investment Management, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at Allianz, said.

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English judge blocks $6.6 billion Brazil lawsuit against BHP over burst dam

The case is the latest battle to establish whether multinationals can be held liable for the conduct of subsidiaries abroad.
The collapse of the Fundao dam, which is owned by the Samarco joint venture between BHP and Brazilian iron ore mining giant Vale VALE3.SA, killed 19 and sent a torrent of mining waste into communities, the Doce river, and the Atlantic Ocean, 650 kilometres (400 miles) away. It was Brazil’s worst environmental disaster.
The ruling comes about 18 months after the UK Supreme Court ruled that nearly 2,000 Zambian villagers could sue miner Vedanta in England for alleged pollution in Africa because substantial justice was not obtainable in Zambia.

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One in five COVID-19 patients develop mental illness within 90 days – Lancet study

People have been worried that COVID-19 survivors will be at greater risk of mental health problems, and our findings … show this to be likely,” said Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at Britain’s Oxford University.

Doctors and scientists around the world urgently need to investigate the causes and identify new treatments for mental illness after COVID-19, Harrison said.

“(Health) services need to be ready to provide care, especially since our results are likely to be underestimates (of the number of psychiatric patients),” he added.

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